Posts

It’s been way too long since my last post so it’s about time to do a bit of house-keeping. For a long while now I’ve been working on a piece talking about the psychology of decision making and our subconsciousness, but since there is a book involved, this one is taking a lot longer than my posts have done in the past. All we can do is to just sit and wait for it to be ready. Continue reading “Chapter Nine – Alter”

Hearing about environmental problems is unavoidable these days. The word sustainability is usually associated with environmental values, but there are at least two other major categories that are talked about, but often as separate issues: economic and social sustainability. However, these three form a unity (see graph), where they are in fact all interconnected and have an impact on each other. Without any one of them, true sustainability cannot exist. Unfortunately it is getting clearer and clearer that it’s a mathematical impossibility to keep the things the way they are today, not only because of the environment, but also the other parameters. Continue reading “The One to Rule Them All – The dominion of economy over sustainability”

Last summer I finally finished my bachelor’s degree. Since then I’ve had a period of kicking back and relaxing, as well as struggling getting used to the non-school life. Now as the dust has settled with all the moving and stuff, I believe it’s time to finally get serious with what I want to do, since now I finally have a chance. This is the chance that I’ve been waiting for for a long time now.

During the past year I have learned a lot about the world and myself, and my thinking has changed drastically. The exchange period in South Korea, in addition to just general learning have left their marks. A year ago my thoughts were mostly with veganism and minimalism, as I saw them as a part of a solution to a problem I didn’t fully understand. As I’ve been practicing them both, they have become the standard lifestyle, and the only one I can consider following after the things I’ve learned. I’m far from perfect, but the thing with imperfections is that if you acknowledge them, you can work with them. No one will ever reach perfection, but I think it’s still definitely worth striving for. Continue reading “Chapter Eight – Focus”

Christmas is a magical time of year for those us who celebrate it, and I feel that there is a special place in heart for us Finns – everyone agrees that Santa comes from Finland, right? *wink* Even the people who don’t celebrate Christmas aren’t safe, as it’s impossible to escape it in most Western societies. Hence, for political correctness, you often hear it referred to as “the Holidays”. Now that we are half-way through our Christmas-cycle, I thought this is the perfect time to discuss it. Continue reading “Making Christmas”

It is in human nature to stick to the things that are nice and cozy – things that give us a fuzzy feeling and a sense comfort. These things tend to be rather pointless in the grand scheme of things and yet so… nice, which seems to be increasingly important to us. To find an explanation for this behaviour, we don’t have to look further than basic biology. Being conservative literally conserves energy for growth and reproduction, and is very efficient in stable conditions. When things are predictable, you don’t have to worry about what’s to come. Hence, from the evolutionary standpoint this makes all the sense – in fact it is a very common survival strategy elsewhere in nature too, for microbes for instance. It works, it really does, but only if the circumstances don’t change drastically. For a colony of microbes, heavy changes in the surrounding conditions tend to lead to an inevitable death. This is not me suggesting comparing ourselves to bacteria, but for what I’ve noticed, evolution and biology usually work in a very logical and efficient way. There are many lessons to be learned there! Continue reading “The world is not standing still – neither should I”